140 years of the Berlin Africa Conference: Imperialism yesterday and today. German Colonial Genocide in Namibia

140 years ago, European colonial powers met in Berlin to negotiate the division of the African continent among themselves. While only a fraction of Africa was under colonial rule a few years before the conference, by the end of the 19th century almost the entire continent had been divided up between Great Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Belgium and Spain. The Berlin Africa Conference of 1884/1885 is emblematic of this race for Africa and is regarded as the peak phase of European imperialism. Rather than being a historically closed phenomenon, imperial relations continue to have an impact today in many different ways or appear in a new guise.

With this series of events, we, the Department of Development Policy and Postcolonial Studies, want to trace and discuss the diverse political, economic and epistemic connections between imperialism then and now.

The first part of the event will focus on German colonial rule in Togo and Namibia. In the second part, we will look at colonial continuities in the global political economy and discuss current forms of energy colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialism. Finally, we will show the documentary "Walter Rodney: What They Don't Want You to Know".

On Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 6 pm, the 2nd event of the series willtake place in Arnold-Bode-Straße 10, 2nd floor, room 1309 , dealing with the first genocide in the 21st century, which was committed against the Nama and Ovahererounder German colonial rule in Namibia. We are delighted to welcome several highly accomplished guest speakers from the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Medico International and Forensic Architecture . The audience will have the rare opportunity to attend a 30-minute film screening about the reconstruction of a concentration camp and to participate in the subsequent discussion with the guest speakers. The film is the result of a cooperation between Forensic Architecure, Forensis, Nama Traditional Leaders Association, Ovaherero Traditional Authorities, Medico International, and other actors who have dealt intensively with the German colonial crimes, their aftermath and current references.

The entire series of events has been developed in cooperation with Kassel postkolonial, BUKO, Medico International, Forensic Architecture, the Walter Rodney Foundation and the Ameena Gafoor Institute. All events are open to the public.

We also welcome active participation from people who have nothing to do with the university in their everyday lives!